Arizona – Phoenix Braces For ‘Draw Mohammad’ Contest Outside Mosque

    12

    Arizona – Arizona police stepped up security on Friday near a mosque for a planned outdoor protest that includes drawing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, weeks after a similar competition in Texas came under attack by two gunmen.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    Friday’s event is set to run concurrently with evening prayers at the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix. Many Muslims believe it is blasphemous to create pictures of the Prophet Mohammad.

    “Dealing with this type of activity is a challenge that is facing law enforcement across the country,” Phoenix police Sergeant Trent Crump said in an email response to questions.

    “Dealing with groups of protesters and opposing views is not the difficult part. Our goal and the real challenge are trying to anticipate unlawful activities that might occur in conjunction with these events,” he said.

    Caricatures of the Prophet and celebrations of them have proven a flashpoint for violence in recent months. In January, gunmen killed 12 people at the Paris office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in an act of retribution for the magazine’s cartoons featuring the Prophet.

    A similar attack was foiled outside Dallas in early May when the two gunmen opened fire outside an exhibit of cartoons of Mohammad. The pair, who had attended the Phoenix mosque targeted in Friday’s event, were shot dead by police without killing anyone.

    Organizers of the Phoenix event described it as an act of retribution for the May 3 attack in the Dallas suburb of Garland.

    “This is in response to the recent attack in Texas where 2 armed terrorists, with ties to ISIS, attempted jihad,” organizers said in a Facebook posting, using a shorthand name for the Islamic State.

    U.S. officials investigated claims that the Texas gunmen had ties to the Syria- and Iraq-based Islamic State militant group but never established a firm connection.

    Phoenix’s Mayor, Greg Stanton, said he did not think Friday’s event was a “good idea” but said it would be allowed to go forward.

    “It’s not a good idea,” Stanton told CNN. “I wish it wasn’t happening in this location, in my city, but as mayor I can balance my responsibilities to the people of this city.”

    Organizers of the rally and officials at the mosque it is targeting could not be reached for immediate comment. Phoenix police declined to provide specific details of their preparations.


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    12 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    ydeneydene
    ydeneydene
    8 years ago

    Mixed feelings here

    posaikacharon
    posaikacharon
    8 years ago

    no jews should take part in such mindless instigation. it is best to stay under the radar as long as we are in galus. this is not what the founding fathers had in mind either. having the right to do it doesn’t mean you SHOULD do it.

    PMOinFL
    PMOinFL
    8 years ago

    Nobody argues that they don’t have the freedom to do this. They do. But they do this risking the consequences. I have the right to walk into a cafe and draw a sexually explicit picture of myself with a woman in the cafe and then hand it to her husband. Should I be surprised if he punches me in the face? I specifically performed an action that was designed to inflame his very sense of being. Far too many stupid people (like Pam Gellar) don’t seem to understand that freedom of speech means freedom from GOVERNMENT censorship. It is not free from consequences. These actions are not targeting terrorists. They are targeting EVERY Muslim in America and around the world.

    An artist has the right to roll a Torah out on the sidewalk, grab a set of paints and paint pictures of celebrities or Jesus all over it. I’d like to see how many Jews would defend the rights of the freedom-fighting “artist” who would do that. Yes, it is his right, but would you not physically intervene to save that Torah from desecration and try to punish the offender? Of course you would. So, why would we not have the same respect for someone else’s idea of holiness?

    Personally, I’m sickened by this.

    greuv
    greuv
    8 years ago

    At the end of paragraph 6, “the pair….were shot dead by police without killing anyone”. It’s absolutely accurate! The 2 non-humans who tried to subvert American law and tried to kill Americans weren’t “anyone”. They don’t belong here if they don’t obey our laws so violently. One of the only democracies in the world that doesn’t have a problem with the small minority of Muslims that is radicalized (that number, btw, is over 100,000,000!!!) is Japan. THEY ARE PERSONA NON GRATAE in Japan. Radical, but it works.

    Tzi_Bar_David
    Tzi_Bar_David
    8 years ago

    Pouring gasoline on a smouldering fire. Completely legal, but poorly thought out.

    Normal
    Normal
    8 years ago

    There is a big difference between protecting free speech and organizing a totally unnecessary and inciteful event ONLY to outrage Muslims. For those here who are not sure, how about Neo Nazis organizing a ‘let’s make fun of the Holocaust’ event. How would that make you feel?

    SGMoish
    SGMoish
    8 years ago

    It’s very simple what’s going on here. These IslamoNazis have murdered, rampaged, slaughtered innocent westerners that have dared to draw cartoons, make videos, burned their book or otherwise “disgraced their religion”
    The world has done nothing but responded to their terror tactics with silence. These brave individuals like Hebdo and Geller are trying to say enough is enough we don’t want to insult anyone’s religion but we have to stand up for everyone’s right to speak up freely without fear of getting our heads chopped off.
    While everyone is afraid to antagonize these monsters Pamela and others are saying “this stops here! We are not afraid of you”. Otherwise it will get worse and worse and worse.
    FYI if every media org in the world would have rallied and posted the Charlie cartoon we would have thought those animals a lesson they would never forget. But alas we are all cowards cowering in fear.

    8 years ago

    Bad intent. No one helps liberty by insinuating the tenets of an estabxlished faith ultimately can make the new joy of bad precision better.

    Mohammed is holy to them. Why invest in denigrating a gravity th only incites a wild animal.

    Use logic. We can use unlimited liberties in political cartoons. Who needs to risk life and limb to get an easy laugh?

    That will not win the war and no one will build inner tolerance in Islam.

    Jews are smarter than getting involved in militant hate.

    Poor planning. Typical red state.